Wine Tasting and Castles, Small Towns in Alsace and Some Unexpected Events

One of the reasons we came to Alsace was to try some Alsatian wines so when we spotted a wine cave that was open on our way to Castle Haut Koneisburg we stopped off for a tasting. It was still earlyish in the day and we were the only ones there and the winemaker seemed happy to give us any number of his wines to try and was quite generous in his pours. Being mindful of the need to drive up a very windy road to the castle we kept ourselves in check but enjoyed tasting some different wines.

We wound up the zigzagging road to the top of the mountain on which Haut Koneisbug is perched. A perfect site for a defensive castle with 360 degree views. Parking was tricky but we squashed in and climbed to the castle entry. The castle had been restored from disrepair by Kaiser Wilhelm II from 1901-1908. While the scientific research of the time was pretty particular, some aspects of the restoration are guesswork as no documents were located to inform the work and a few aspects were changed to fit with the Kaiser's ideas of what medieval life would have been like. For example the decoration of the great hall with his eagle emblem on the ceilig, and with weapons and armour.

The castle would have been pretty impregnable with its defence systems and there would certainly have been plenty of notice of any invaders coming near the castle as the occupants could see for miles in all directions.

As you can see from the photos, we had to climb a lot of stairs. There are 354 stairs apparantly, and that is not counting the ones up to the castle from parking the car or walking up the road. So we were pretty tired and hungry having spent a lot longer in the castle than intended and also after our unplanned stop to taste wine. We headed for one of the small picturesque villages Alsace is famous for and parked on the outskirts. The first likely looking place was a beer garden on the outskirts but to our dismay they stopped serving food at 2pm and so we had missed our chance. Feeling footsore, dehydrated, hungry and exhausted we made our way along the road and into the medieval village proper where, to our relief, it was easy to find somewhere to eat and drink a soothing glass of wine as we rested ourselves ready to explore this beautiful village of Riquewihr. Like Colmar, Riquewihr could easily be the setting for a fairytale and we enjoyed seeing all the lovely buildings and exploring a local church. The grape vines are very close coming right up to the village as can be seen in a couple of the pictures. Like Colmar, although beautiful, it was very commercialised and being easter weekend was crowded with holidaymakers which took away a little of the charm for me (hypocritical as I am a tourist myself). But I guess its the only way a small place can survive as the tourism would bring lots of money into the town.

As you can imagine we were even more tired after our walk around the village (and another sneaky wine taste) and the walk down the road out to where we had parked the car by a roundabout with a big easter egg in the middle of it seemed very long and hot. What a blow when we were unable to locate the car keys. Pockets and bags were turned out with no success and there was nothing else to do but retrace our steps back to the village and around the village, heads down watching the pavement and going into any place we had visited to ask if they were there. Heads were awhirl thinking up contingency plans as we knew that if they had been dropped on the ground the likelihood of finding them was not high. What a relief to find they had been left on the counter when we paid for our belated lunch. Man we were tired by then. We treked back down to the Easter egg roundabout and headed home

You would never have guessed but on the way home we stopped and tasted some more wine! Can't say I am a convert to riesling or gewurztraminer but really love the cremont d'alsace. The day was not over though, we had booked into a restaurant in Colmar serving traditional Alsatian food that the boat guide had suggested on our canal tour two days before. So a quick cup of tea was had as I put on a bit of face paint and out we went again looking forward to some great food. Oh my goodness, I inadvertently ordered the Alsatian version of boilup. Sounded good - three meats (beef, pork and lamb) marianated in white wine and stewed with veges. Nope, it was flash boilup and I am not really a fan of boilup. It was ok but not the lovely rich, thick stew I anticipated so a disappointment especially after our long day out. Then, this put the wind up me, we were on a quiet street on the way back to the car (it was dark) and stopped to read a sign about a historic site. As I turned back to continue walking I saw a person in army type clothes out the corner of my eye on the foot path. I thought ‘that’s a weird way to be dressed’ and then as I let him past (hoping this weird army impersonator was not going to clock me one or something) I realised he had a big rifle. Then I saw there was another army looking guy beside him witha rifle. He said “Bon soir” as he passed and I noticed there were more of them. 8-10 in total walking slowly at even pace about 5 steps apart in pairs. The police are armed here and we had seen them around the place but this was different and unexpected when we don't see armed officials in NZ unless there is an immediate, known threat.